Officer missing in action for 20 years

By Vincent Mabatuk

It has almost been 20 years since Mary Kiptrarus last saw her husband, but she believes he is still alive.

The 47-year-old woman was left a young mother by her husband, Jackson Chepyegon Kiptarus, when he vanished without a trace in 1992.

Chepyegon, a former Administration Police officer, had gone to his work place at Mukumuini chief’s camp in Kericho but never returned to his family.

Instead, days later, his colleagues went to search for him at his rural home and carted away his documents.

It was at around 8.40am on September 3, 1992 when the father of seven left his Timboiywo home in Baringo Central District to report for work in Kericho.

It was at a time when there were ethnic clashes, which had rocked Londiani where many people lost their lives and property.

His first-born daughter, Mercy Jepkorir Tarus, says they have been searching for their father ever since that day.

"It has been dreadful. You just can’t put his disappearance out of your mind," says Jepkorir.

Jepkorir says she was only five-years-old when her father went missing. Their last-born child was six months old at the time, but now they are all grownups and are helping their mother to search for him.

Kiptarus, who would now be retired, had no problems at home, according to his wife. Indeed, he was planning to settle his family on a farm he had bought in Londiani, Kericho County.

Suffering

"We shall never lose hope of finding him. I just can’t let it go. It’s my wish that I trace him or know what happened to him," his wife says.

His daughter, now a mother of two, says the hardship they went through following the disappearance of their father forced them to drop out of school. They had to find employment as house girls so that they could support the family.

Mary says she only has fond memories of her husband whom she wedded in 1983.

She says following his disappearance, two Administration Police officers from Kericho came to their home in Baringo allegedly to try and find her husband.

She says the officers ransacked her house for a whole day before carrying some documents belonging to her husband.

She says they went with his pay slips and a bunch of letters. But before leaving, they told her that her husband had deserted work and made away with his official firearm.

The woman agonises that since then, they have been living a life of poverty relying on relief food. However, she notes that they only received government relief food through Kabarnet District Commissioner for seven years.

She lamented that she has made several visits to Nairobi to ask for help from the AP commandant to trace her husband.

"I was requested to give my identification number with a promise that I would be receiving a monthly allowance from the Government. But I have not received even a single coin since then," she says.

The family has since been living on a quarter acre piece of land in Timboiywo, Baringo.

No option

Mary says since they have been unable to trace him and the Government, too, does not know where he is, then it should release his benefits and allowance to enable them overcome their daily challenges.

Mary says she was forced to engage in illegal brewing in order to raise her children.

"No one should think that I like what I am doing. My children look upon me as a father and a mother and I have no option but to look for a way of feeding and clothing them," she says.

Our attempts to seek comment from Rift Valley Provincial Commissioner Osman Warfa over the matter were futile as his cell phone went unanswered.